Trade gap narrowed by €13 million in December

Provisional data for international trade show that the visible trade gap in December stood at €61.6 million, down by €13.0 million when compared to the corresponding month in 2011.

There were decreases in imports and exports of €13.5 million and €0.5 million respectively, as shown in Table 1a. The decrease in the value of imports was primarily due to machinery and transport equipment, with other declines registered for semi-manufactured goods, food, miscellaneous manufactured articles, and crude materials.

Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials accounted for the main decrease in the value of exports when compared to the corresponding month in 2011. Other drops were registered for miscellaneous manufactured articles, semi-manufactured goods, and miscellaneous transactions and commodities.

During 2012, the visible trade gap widened by €399.6 million, to €1,915.1 million.

The increase in imports of €789.4 million was mainly due to mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials. Increases were also registered for food, beverages and tobacco, miscellaneous manufactured articles, chemicals, crude materials, and animal and vegetable oils and fats.

The rise in the value of exports of €389.8 million was primarily due to mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials. Other increases were noted for machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, food, beverages and tobacco, miscellaneous manufactured articles, crude materials, and miscellaneous transactions and commodities.

A substantial amount of Malta's trade flows and consequent trade deficit continued to be directed towards the European Union, as shown in Table 3. Increases were registered in imports from Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, and Germany, while there were decreases from France and the United Kingdom.

Exports to the European Union decreased, mainly to the United Kingdom, with increases being registered for the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, France and Belgium. Other increases in exports were also recorded for Libya, Singapore, Russia, the United States of America, Japan and India.